Communications of the ACM
How to Make Robots Seem Less Creepy
For tasks that involve dealing with people, robots that can convey emotion, like MIT's Nexi, fare better than traditional robots, according to new research.
Credit: Mikey Siegel, Personal Robots Group, MIT Media Lab
Recent research has shown the "uncanny valley" hypothesis for human-robot interaction is overstated and when emotional jobs must be "botsourced," people actually prefer robots that seem capable of conveying some degree of human emotion.
The latest human-robot interaction research combines breakthroughs in robotics and psychology to suggest five important design features.
The first idea is giving robots faces helps improve human-robot interaction. For example, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Nexi robot has more of a "baby face," and appears more capable of feeling than robots with longer chins, which appear more professorial.
In addition, research shows child-faced robots are less likely to threaten elderly individuals, who will be the primary users of future robotic healthcare assistants.
Research also shows a robot's voice is very important to its acceptance. One study found people trusted and enjoyed self-driving cars much more when the car had a voice than when it drove intelligently but silently.
People also prefer robots that mimic their behavior. Mimicry provides a type of empathy that is important for human-robot interaction, and research shows it can be conveyed even by robots that do not have a physical presence.
Finally, research shows giving robots some element of unpredictability can enhance robot acceptance.
From The Wall Street Journal
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